Obama’s lead over Rick Perry shrinks as governor gains among independents

Rick Perry’s support has grown among both independent voters and Tea Partiers in the past month, cutting President Obama’s lead over him in a one-on-one race in half, a new poll finds.

In a McClatchy-Marist poll released today, the Democratic incumbent has a 9 percentage point lead over the Texas Republican: 50 percent of Americans would vote for Obama, 41 percent would elect Perry and 9 percent are undecided. In the poll’s August survey, Obama had a 19-point lead over Perry.

A large piece of Perry’s gain was a result of increased support against Obama among independent voters. The president led Perry among independents a month ago, 49 percent to 30 percent, but today those voters are split with 43 percent for Obama and 43 percent for Perry.

Tea Party support for Perry in a match against Obama has increased to 84 percent, from 69 percent in August.

Obama leads all the announced Republican presidential candidates in the polls. However, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who says that he is still contemplating a presidential bid, led Obama, 49 percent to 42 percent.

Although Perry is still behind Obama in a one-on-one match, he took the lead in a poll of support for the Republican presidential nomination.

Perry came in first with 20 percent, followed by Giuliani with 14 percent and Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin at 13 percent.

When unannounced candidates Giuliani and Palin were removed from the poll, Perry had 30 percent of support from likely GOP primary voters and Romney had 22 percent.